Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Have you seen the new - OK, it's not that new any more - version of LANguard (formerly LANguard Network Security Scanner)? It's certainly a tool worth checking out if you do vulnerability scanning.

I've been using LANguard for years for share finding and authenticated scanning and it does both very well. The biggest change in the latest version is the user interface. I've never been a big fan and I'm still not, but I'm getting used to it. Many of the improvements in the latest version involve authenticated scans. The quick-view dashboard is a nice improvement and I really like the scan progress.

When performing untrusted/unauthenticated scans I've found that LANguard won't find nearly the number of vulnerabilities than QualysGuard especially with regards to missing patch vulns that are exploitable via Metasploit. Hopefully that'll continue to evolve. But it does a very good job with this during authenticated scans (as would be expected if you have login credentials).

I'm still waiting for the ability to test your authentication credentials like what Sunbelt Network Security Inspector offers - at least used to, haven't used it lately. You have to plug in your credentials and hope that your login works. It'd also be nice to be able to sort through the network share finder results and filter based on permissions found (i.e. shares where Everyone has full access).

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My Background

I am an independent information security consultant, expert witness, professional speaker, and writer with over 29 years of experience in IT - the last 23 of which I've dedicated to information security. Before starting Principle Logic in 2001, I served in various information technology and security roles for several healthcare, e-commerce, financial firms, educational institutions, and consulting organizations.

I am author/co-author of 12 information security books including one of the best-selling information security books Hacking For Dummies (currently in its 5th edition) as well as Hacking Wireless Networks For Dummies, Point-of-Sale Security For Dummies, Next-Generation IPS For Dummies, HP Converged Infrastructure For Dummies, PCI Cardholder Data Protection For Dummies, Identity & Access Management For Dummies, Securing the Mobile Enterprise For Dummies, and Laptop Encryption For Dummies (all by Wiley), The Definitive Guide to Email Management and Security and Implementation Strategies for Fulfulling and Maintaining IT Compliance (Realtimepublishers.com), as well as The Practical Guide to HIPAA Privacy and Security Compliance (currently in its 2nd edition). In addition, I am technical editor of the book Network Security For Dummies (Wiley) as well as over a dozen books and whitepapers for Realtimepublishers.com.

I earned my bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering Technology from Southern College of Technology and my master's degree in Management of Technology from Georgia Tech. I also hold the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification which I obtained in 2001.